“There it is,” she said, her voice back to its scientist modulation.
“Let’s take a drive,” Ty said.
It was a good thing they’d filled up the tank before the time shift.
So far, they hadn’t activated theRay’sengine.Whatever had happened was hurling them without the need for power.
Jack wasn’t sure if he should try to take control or just ride this out and hope for the best.
“Jack.”Mel’s voice was hushed.
He looked up from the controls and saw the sky filled with B-17s.The images weren’t sharp, they were more like ghosts from the past and their craft passed through them, giving them brief glimpses of tense faces as they handled the attackingStuka’s.
The storm or vortex curled in around them again, sweeping that past away and Jack had the sensation of falling.
Now he worked grimly on getting the engines online.He remembered this feeling all too well.The swirling clouds began to thin and the patchwork landscape began to get closer.
He had a sense of somewhere rural, before the light began to fade into night.
“That’s super weird,” Mel muttered.
Jack spared her a glance.She stared rigidly ahead, her hands gripping the armrests, the knuckles white.
He tried the engine again.
“We don’t have parachutes,” Mel pointed out, her tone remarkably mild considering.
“I know.”It was possible they wouldn’t need them, but he didn’t want to count on that.
He tweaked some things and tried the engine again, felt it rumble and grumble half-heartedly.He tweaked a few more settings and the grumble faded, leaving a steady, though muted rumble.
They were still falling.TheRayhad vertical landing capability.He tried to slow their drop.
It didn’t work.He eased back on the stick, was about to try again when their velocity slowed without his intervention.
“Did you do that?”Mel asked.
“No.”Alarms began to sound as the ground rushed up to meet them.This time when he tried to slow them down, it worked.At least, he thought he’d done it.
And then with a jolt, theRayslowed and in the dark with just the light of the moon, he saw a field.They were about tree height.He lowered theRayvery slowly down, adjusting their course when a tree loomed up to the right.
And then with a gentle thud, they were on the ground.
But what ground?
The storm vanished as if someone had flipped a switch.Rita was bruised and sore from trying to kneel where she could see Con and he could see her.She’d had to unstrap to manage it.And her knees weren’t happy with the brutal wood seat.
Oh well, at least she’d kept her bruise level topped up.Wouldn’t pay to get behind on that.
With a last smile at him, she eased herself out of her cramped, kneeling position and got her tush back in contact with the seat.She reached for her straps and with difficulty secured herself again.
The storm was gone, but they were in the air.More desert stretched out implacably ahead of them.And now there was no going back to the silo.
It was gone.The thought tightened her chest.What had happened to Mel and Jack?Were they out here somewhere?
And what would happen to them?They didn’t have food or water and no way to refuel.
Now she couldn’t look away from the view of the horizon and the land below.Had time brought them out here to die?Was it hubris to think that time had protected her and would again?
